Ionia jumped up onto my shoulder looking like she just won the lottery, which in all honesty she had. I was a bit pale from my anxiety doing its best to boil over.

  Oxide and Lani, however, were about to fall over; they were laughing so hard.

  I pouted at them all for a few moments before returning Ionia, so she didn’t get too tired from all the emotions surrounding us, and started walking towards the Pokemon Center Iolani had picked out.

  “So.” She began while wiping tears from her eyes, “is there anything we’re supposed to do here?”

  I pointed at the case strapped to my backpack “I have to drop this off with someone who has an Altaria, and a Jumpluff.” I turned to give her a smug grin, “and then we have a concert to get to.”

  Her eyes went wide, “Wait, what do you mean concert?”

  I pulled out my phone and opened my trainer card’s ‘rewards tab’ which was holding a pair of digital tickets to Roxie’s concert. “My payment for delivering it! I got one for both of us and they’re good for a trainer and up to six members of their team!”

  With a quick look to me for permission, she grabbed my phone, “These are top of the line. I was gonna tell you that you got scammed, but these are premium tickets!”

  “Exactly! And Roxie is one of my favorite bands!”

  We turned the corner and found the Center dead ahead, like the ones in Nuvema, Accumulas’ Centers were quite small, and were generally empty as well.

  Except for Concert Night which meant the Center was incredibly crowded.

  A sea of trainers was already flowing away from the doors with rejection, which had my heart sinking.

  “What’s going on?” I heard Lani ask one of the trainers as they walked by.

  “All full,” he growled back, “and all the others are full too!”

  “Whoa come on guy!” Lani said with her hands up, “No need to jump me for it!”

  He blinked for a moment then blushed, “Oh! I’m so sorry! I’m just incredibly tired right now and I just wanted to get dinner and go to bed.”

  Upon a second look, he did look exhausted, with his shaggy red hair looking like he went through a wind turbine, bags under his eyes, and frumpled baggy clothes.

  ‘It’s fine,” I patted him on the shoulder, “If you want, I can help you get a room at a hotel?”

  The pair of them blinked at me.

  Oh. Right.

  “Um, I technically come from money, and before I ran away from home I created my own bank account and drained my allowance into that. So I have enough to pay for a hotel for all three of us if you both are okay with that?”

  I looked down at my boots, anxiety rising in my chest that I might get interrogated about my past when I felt the familiar sensation of Lani’s arm wrapping around me.

  “Easy Psyche,” she whispered in my ear, “we’re just surprised ‘s all.”

  The tired trainer looked at me with hope in his eyes, “are you sure? I don’t want to impose or anything I’m-“ He cut himself off and blushed again.

  Feeling the raging waters of my anxiety drain away under Lani’s reassurances, I smiled. “I’m absolutely sure! It’d be cruel of me to not offer!”

  I felt Oxide’s hands poking the top of my head, “Oh! But first we both need to get our Pokemon looked at!”

  ***

  The staff at the Center were quite relieved when we said we only needed a basic ‘after-route check-up’, and soon enough all our Pokemon were whisked away while we sat down in the lobby and I started hunting for a hotel that wasn’t awful from a price, or quality standpoint.

  Everything was almost booked completely solid for the concert.

  All the options left were penthouse type suites, so I did the next best thing and started calling around and asking if there were any rooms open, only to hit dead ends everywhere except the last possible hotel.

  “We actually do have a room open!” The FDA answered back to our collective relief, “The reservation just got pinged as a no show, so we can hold that over for you until you get here!”

  “Thank you so much! Is there anything you need from me right now?”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “No ma’am, just show up with the ability to pay in the next hour, and the room is yours!”

  “Thank you ma’am!”

  I hung up, then looked to the counter with a small wish that our Pokemon would be cleared to go soon, otherwise we would have to transfer them to a closer Center on the way to the hotel.

  “Hey,” Lani broke the silence, “I just realized. We never exchanged names!”

  She looked at both of us expectantly before face-palming. “You both do realize we need to give our names since ya know, we’re all staying in the same room?”

  He and I looked at each other before nodding and replying back with a combined “Nope!”

  Her only response was too facepalm as we both stifled our laughter.

  “To be perfectly serious though,” he began, “I’m Adrian.”

  “Psyche,” I replied then pointed to my grumbling companion, “her name is Iolani.”

  “Nice to meet both of… y-youuu.” He fought to speak through a massive yawn.

  “You okay there buddy?” Lani asked, “Where’d you travel from to be this tired already?”

  “West end of the Archipelago.”

  I nearly choked on air, “You got here all the way from there in one day?!”

  “I mean, I do have a Water type,” he sheepishly responded.

  “What am I missing here?” Lani cut in.

  “The Nuvema Archipelago,” I explained, “is infamous for its strong currents and quite temperamental Rock types. It’s why trainers are required to have gotten six badges with a Pokemon that can surf participating in that gym battle, since low flying gets so dangerous.”

  I squinted at Adrian before poking his nose, “you need to be more careful.”

  He swatted my hand away before letting out a sigh, “I know, the only reason I didn’t just ask someone else to is because they would’ve just insisted I take the boat to Castelia instead. My family thinks the concert is nothing but a waste of money.”

  Lani reached over and patted him on the shoulder, “are you even here for that?”

  “Nope!” he declared, “I wanted to stop by the Dreamyard and see if I could catch a Munna.”

  I nodded, “Perfectly reasonable!”

  Lani gave me a bit of a look.

  “Munna are cute!” I insisted, “they look like little cookie jars!”

  Before our table could devolve into bickering, Oxide flew over and plopped down on my hat as both mine and Lani’s names were called up.

  “Guess we don’t have to transfer them after all.” Adrian stated with a glance to his watch.

  The nurse gave all our Pokemon a clean bill of health, but insisted that I take it easy during the concert tonight with my Pokemon since Oxide and Ionia were a bit fatigued still.

  Adrian was the most excited I had seen him so far.

  “I’m so ready to lay down in an actual bed!” He exclaimed as we left the Center. “A real mattress! With real sheets!”

  “Have you slept on the ground your entire life?” Lani teased.

  “No but I miss my bed so much!” he cried.

  ***

  True to his word, upon getting into the room he quickly sent out his Pokemon (Which turned out to be the most dashing Staryu I had ever met!), got changed into pajamas that had to be flash dried by a very delicate use of Ionia’s Mystical Fire, and went to bed.

  The room we had gotten was a basic two bed hotel room with a TV and a balcony, but Lani and I weren’t too worried about that at the moment.

  Both of us and our Pokemon were all hungry.

  “Staryu,” I whispered, “Do you want some food too?”

  “Star,” they thought for a moment, “yu.” They shook horizontally.

  “”No? Okay then.” I gave them a thumbs up before grabbing the case, and a small bag full of emergency supplies. No point in dragging my entire backpack everywhere.

  “You ready?” Lani asked after the door shut with a click.

  “Yes.” I said while grabbing her hand, “Let go get some food already. I’m starving!”

  We both practically teleported down to the restaurant across the street. It was a tasteful little space that sold shawarma that ended up being so good we both got seconds. Lani’s had a mixture of a small bit of all the toppings they had available, (invariably making her wraps very messy), and I got a more meaty set of wraps with cheese and a whole lot of spice added.

  Chili powder is the best thing in the entire world and no one can change my mind.

  We got seats in an outdoor seating area to enjoy the fresh air and shade from the awning, and luckily for us, the restaurant actually kept homemade Pokemon foods on hand meaning both our teams were able to enjoy the restaurant as well.

  “So,” Lani spoke between bites, “you still have that case on you. Expecting to deliver it tonight?”

  I came up for air and shrugged, “Maybe? Mainly I have it as a just in case thing. The last thing I want is for it to be stolen from me.” An image of Professor Krane getting that upset because of me flashed through my mind and I shuddered.

  As if sensing my climbing anxiety, Lani reached over and grabbed my hand. “Hey, nothing has happened, think about what's here and now, because if you don’t your wraps will be lost to the sands of entropy.”

  That last part had me giving her a look, “That last part, what are you plotting?”

  She hid a smile behind her glass of water, “That may or may not have been me saying I’ll eat it.”

  Before either of us could say anything further we were suddenly sitting next to ground zero of a massive fluff attack.

  “Huh, so that’s what an Altaria looks like up close.”

  The Altaria in question gave Lani an unimpressed look, which she matched with another bite of her shawarma.

  “Jump! Jumpluff!”

  I turned to see a Jumpluff next to me that was motioning towards the parcel as if asking if I was who they were looking for.

  “So you two found us first huh?” I asked before taking a quick bite.

  They nodded, then glared over at the Altaria who was still matching eyes with Lani whose eyes were dancing with delight as she just kept eating like nothing had happened.

  The Jumpluff and I looked at each other.

  “Should we just leave them to their staring contest? Or should I just follow you now?”

  They thought for a few moments before motioning for me to finish my dinner first.

  “No deliveries on an empty stomach,” I smiled through the simmering anxiety, “got it!”

  Boilerplate time!

  As always, a big thank you to for help editing!

  Pokemon seen this chapter:

  Staryu

  Current Team:

  Ionia (Hatenna)

  Trained Abilities: Anticipation

  Moves: Teleport, Confusion, Play Nice, Life Dew, Disarming Voice, Mystical Fire

  Oxide (Emolga)

  Trained Abilities: TBD

  Moves: Nuzzle, Tail Whip, Double Team, Quick Attack, Thundershock

  Tirtouga

  Trained Abilities: TBD

  Moves: Water Gun, Withdraw, Aqua Jet, Smack Down, Ancient Power, Bite

  Do you want more words written by me?

  A Spark of Sylvan Flame A story about a trans farmgirl facing off against plant aliens, with items bought from an AI chip in her head!

  Thanks for reading! :D

  -DeliriousSprite